Pros

Absolutely brilliant off-road. The rougher the terrain, the better it works

Engine is simple to maintain and gives strong, grunty performance

Lots of fun (on the right day), thanks to the removable roof, doors and fold-down glass

Hose-out interior

Great value for something with this level of off-road ability

Cons

Ergonomics half-baked. At best.

Front seats flat and thin, rear seat tight every which way

Long trips at speed will be tiring

Not a great everyday transport solution

Hardtop fiddly to remove and requires two people

When it comes to retro styling, for many folk you can't beat the original.

It is not the case, though, for the Jeep Wrangler, because while it looks retro, it is not - this is how Jeep has always built them.

Re-released in Australia in the mid-to-late 1990s, the Wrangler worth having now is from 2000 onwards, as it'll simply be a younger (as opposed to better) thing.

But is any Wrangler ''worth having''? The answer depends entirely on how you intend to use such a vehicle, because as well as being the real deal, the Wrangler is one of those vehicles that is terrific at some tasks and utterly hopeless at others.

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As a road car, people-mover or just a car to run about in, the Wrangler struggles.

The dynamics are OK in a four-wheel-drive sense but ordinary by any other measure and the steering is rubbery and feels disjointed. The cabin is a disaster, with poor ergonomics, doors that don't stay open by themselves, miserable front seats and a strict two-person rear seat that is cramped in every direction. The hardtop version is noisy and the soft-top has a roof that owes more to the Scouting movement than anything involved in automotive engineering.

But - and it might not mean much to you - as a fun weekend vehicle or a machine to get you into, and back out of, the wildest country any four-wheeler could hope to tackle, the Jeep is a revelation. Off the road, few vehicles will stay with a well-driven Wrangler.

The hardware that makes up the Jeep seems to be of fairly stern stuff, too. With an old-fashioned ladder-type chassis, the Wrangler won't excite the engineers out there. But that structure gives it great strength and the sort of toughness you need when crunching it over boulders and down cliff faces.

Suspension is by coil springs and live axles, which, again, won't do it for the technophiles but makes for great wheel articulation (how far the wheels can travel to keep surface contact) on rough tracks. The fat rubber helps there and, surprisingly, there is not as much body roll on the bitumen as you might have guessed.

The engine, too, is simple but does the job off-road. It is a 4.0-litre in-line six-cylinder petrol version and while it does get fuel injection, there is not an overhead camshaft or multi-valve head to be seen.

What the engine lacks in brochure appeal, it more than makes up for in grit. Aim the Wrangler up a hill and that engine will haul it up the side with relative ease. It's not exactly smooth (for an in-line six) but it feels strong and incredibly willing. A hard worker, to be sure.

With gearing that sees the engine spinning at just 1800rpm at 100km/h, the Wrangler will also tackle highway trips - if your ears hold out.

The three-speed auto is quite good off-road but the five-speed manual is better and suits the overall mood of the vehicle.

Speaking of which, the soft-top is definitely the way to go unless you live in a permanently cold, rainy environment.

With a big roll-bar to protect the occupants, the soft-top looks butch with the roof and doors removed and the windscreen folded flat. The hardtop has the same roll-bar and fold-flat screen but getting the roof off is a tricky two-person job.

Inside, the Wrangler is afflicted by the same small, thinly padded front seats many US-built cars use (ironic, given the proportions of the average American these days). The ergonomics are appalling and quality virtually non-existent, with lots of bare metal surfaces and a fly-apart feel to the switchgear and fittings.

If that lot doesn't put you off (and the lure of weekends in the bush is still in evidence) then there are a few things to watch out for when shopping for a Wrangler.

The most common is the threat of off-road damage to the vehicle's underbody and mechanical bits and pieces.

Since Wrangler ownership seems pretty hollow if you don't use the thing off-road, many owners did and, depending on how serious or skilled they were, the cars took a fair hammering.

Check the chassis rails and floorpans for signs of having been smashed over rocks and through gullies. Nasty gouges on the metal bits suggest a hard life and if you want to be really thorough, you can check the oil in the front and rear differential. Milky oil is a sign the vehicle has spent at least some time in pretty deep water. That said, if it is only the rear differential that is water-contaminated, you might be looking at a vehicle that has simply been used to launch a boat on a trailer and has been reversed in and out of water a few dozen times.

Check the sidewalls of the tyres for missing chunks and have a close look at the sides of the vehicle for scrapes, dents and scratches, as bush tracks are hard on these areas.

In vehicles with the automatic gearbox, ensure the unit shifts smoothly and engages without a thump. A transmission that can't decide on which gear it wants to be in is also a sign all is not well.

The soft-top is, not too surprisingly, a bit prone to water leaks. But the hardtop isn't immune to water ingress, either. In the case of the latter, a trip through a car wash should show up any leaks. The same stunt in the soft-top is asking for trouble (and a drenching).

A musty smell inside the cabin or damp carpets are a sure sign of a leak but a Wrangler without a leak or two would be the exception, not the rule.

Thanks to that legendary American quality (or lack of it), the Wrangler has, throughout the years, been subject to recalls for everything from faulty anti-lock brakes to airbags that potentially fire on a false alarm. Brake lines have chafed and clutch pedals have snapped. We counted something like a dozen recalls affecting the Wrangler, so a trip to a dealer to see whether a particular vehicle has been attended to sounds like a great idea to us.

But hey, that is all part of the Wrangler experience, it would seem.

Need to know

■Check underneath for evidence of a hard rock-hopping life. Scrapes and dents in the floor and chassis rails are a giveaway.

■If you are keen, check the oil in each differential. Milky oil means the car has been through its share of river crossings.

■How are the tyres? Big chunks missing from the sidewall mean they are unroadworthy and they are not cheap to replace.

■Recalls dogged the model throughout its life. Have they all been done?

■A musty smell means water is getting in somewhere. In the soft-top version, possibly everywhere.

The competitors

Suzuki Jimny

With a soft-top and rugged styling, the Jimny comes up as logical competition. It is not bad off-road, either, but lacks the Jeep's meatiness in every department. Hopeless in day-to-day driving and costs almost as much as the Wrangler.

Chrysler PT Cruiser Cabriolet

OK, it is not four-wheel-drive but if retro looks in an Americana convertible are your thing, the PT Cruiser soft-top might apply.

It is a big maybe, however.

Land Rover Defender Extreme

The short-wheelbase Defender is also a great off-roader and also has that rugged, old-school charm. It is a lot more money but the turbo diesel engine makes sense.